British Twitter Users Make the Most Weather Complaints: Study

A new study reveals that in the realm of social media, the British complain more about the weather than any other country. The research was discussed by Jennifer O’Mahony in a recent article for The Telegraph.

Top Weather Complainants

According to Brandwatch, the social media monitor for The Telegraph, majority or 20.2% of weather discussions done weekly come from the British. They are followed by the Greeks, who account for 15.3% of the comments. The study also found that the British were more likely to post negative remarks about the weather, with about 8.7% of comments concentrated on complaints. It is reported that the negativity may have stemmed from the above-average rainfall and below-average temperatures that besieged the country last month.

The Brits complain most about the weather in Twitter. (Image: via social-media-training.co.uk)

Notably, other weather complainants seem to have come from former British colonies. Next to Britain, New Zealand came second with 8.1% negative comments, followed by Canada and the US, with 7.6% and 6.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Netherlands also made it to the top five, with 7.6% negative comments about the weather.

Joel Windels, Brandwatch’s lead community manager, said:

“We looked at twenty of the most socially-savvy countries from across the world and analysed over 300,000 tweets to see what Tweeters from around the world were saying about the weather.

“It will come as little surprise to most Brits that tweeters from the UK were by far the most likely to voice their comments about the weather, with over 20 per cent of all conversation monitored originating from our wet and dreary island.

“Though Canada and New Zealand also enjoy a good grumble, the UK also leads the negativity charts, as 8.7 per cent of UK tweets about the weather are negative in sentiment, compared to 8.3 per cent positive.

“The citizens of every other country we monitored broadcast more positive tweets about the weather than negative ones.”

A British “Thing”

The study also shows that negativity over the weather appears to be a British “thing.” People in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden are also exposed to bleak weather, but research shows that the amounts of positive Tweets in these countries are almost double the negative ones. These results were based on over 300,000 Tweets coming from 20 countries in the last month.

Regarding the study, a Met Office spokesman remarks that the British appear to be “obsessed” about the weather online as they are in conversations offline. He goes on to say that British posts on social media like Facebook, Twitter, and other blogs indicate a “national obsession” for the weather, which is a part of the British national identity.

Likewise, Brandwatch’s Lead Community Manager Joel Windels comments that Britain’s topping of the charts for most weather complaints is not surprising. He notes that in every other country that was surveyed, there were more positive Tweets than negative ones.

According to the Met Office spokesman,

“This research shows that us Brits are just as obsessed with the weather in our online conversations as we are in conversations in the street or down the pub. The popularity of our Twitter, Facebook and blog pages is more proof that the weather is a national obsession and a big part of our national identity. We all have a good idea of the weather we’d like here in the UK, but perhaps the reality doesn’t always live up to those aspirations – especially after a run of disappointing summers.”